UK urged to ratify lawyer-protection treaty one year after signing

The Law Society of England and Wales and the Bar Council have called for the ratification of the Luxembourg Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer, one year after the UK signed the treaty.

The City of London Law Society chairman, Colin Passmore KC (Hon), said: “This convention is a significant international law instrument creating binding safeguards to protect lawyers from attacks, threats, harassment, intimidation and other improper hindrance when properly performing legitimate professional activities.”

He added: “Ratification is, in our view, critical as we are increasingly seeing this sort of behaviour directed at lawyers. The obligations imposed on member states by the convention have clear potential to deter and appropriately respond to this type of behaviour, so the CLLS is – on behalf of its over 22,000 member solicitors – supportive of calls for the UK government to proceed to ratification without further delay.”